I provide commentary on political economy, police and prosecutorial abuse, and whatever else might come to mind.
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (ESV)

Likewise, the DA's office has not interviewed Ms. Craft, according to an interview with Channel 9 news. (This interview took place before Judge Brian House threw down a gag order, as it is not to his liking for a defendant -- especially one who clearly is innocent -- to mount a defense.) To make matters worse, prosecutor Chris Arnt told WTVC:

When you don't have evidence on your side, when you don't have truth on your side, you have to go out and try to poison the jury pool and that's the kind of stuff they're pulling.

Arnt's statement is most interesting. First, he and his tag-team partner Len Gregor changed the original charges from the alleged abuse happening on a specific day at a specific slumber party at Ms. Craft's home to a nebulous affair that occurred over a three-year period, but not at the slumber party. That was because a number of girls were prepared to testify that there was no sexual abuse at the party. House agreed to keep the girls from testifying.

Second, if anyone has "poisoned" the jury pool, it has been the prosecution teaming with the local media to convict Ms. Craft in the press. Like Nifong in the Duke case, who gave more than 70 interviews in which he told nothing but lies, it seems that the prosecution knows that lies are out the door and in the community before truth even is able to tie its shoelaces.

You see, if Arnt really believed that he had "truth on his side," then he would not fear the defense being able to provide witnesses that presented a rebuttal argument. Instead, Arnt has managed to have the opposing testimony thrown out altogether because, apparently, he doesn't much believe in his own evidence.

The father of one of the girls who is claiming she was abused went to the prosecution and told them he did not believe that any abuse happened. What was the response of the "ministers of justice"? Well, the way that they dealt with this evidence bombshell was to threaten the father with obstruction of justice if he did not go along with their scheme.

Again, if Chris Arnt believes he really has "truth on his side," then he would not be afraid of a parent who seriously doubts that Arnt's "evidence" has veracity. Unfortunately for Arnt, the father's doubt also were recorded by Tonya Craft's private investigator, Eric Echols.

What to do when someone has exculpatory evidence? Why, arrest the person who found the evidence and have him charged with felonies! In other words, take a page from Michael Nifong, who had cab driver Moez Elmostafa arrested after he found out that Elmostafa had Reade Seligmann as a passenger in his cab at the very time that Nifong claimed in his statements that Seligmann was raping Crystal Mangum. Nifong knew that even in the corrupt Durham courts, he might have a hard time explaining how Seligmann could be in two places simultaneously. (There also was a time-stamped photo of Seligmann standing in front of an automatic teller withdrawing money, the time being when the alleged rape was supposed to have been going on; Nifong, however, did not try to arrest the automatic teller.)

Furthermore, if Arnt and Gregor really were interested in the truth, they would have looked at the evidence from the other side. However, like Nifong, their entire "investigation" has been about trying to rig the court proceedings (with Brian House's help) and keep out exculpatory evidence.

For example, when attorneys asked Arnt for information that he had in his possession of children at the slumber party claiming there was no abuse, he lied to the attorneys and said he did not have it. He later turned it over, after being forced by Georgia law to do so. However, the very fact that he would lie tells me that he is not all that confident about his own evidence.

This case was built on lies, the prosecutors are lying, and Judge House is encouraging the whole sorry affair because the last thing he wants to see is a jury verdict that makes Arnt and Gregor and some other powerful people unhappy.

7 comments:

Much has been said about House being the lawyer for Tonya's first husband when they divorced. He actually only stood in for his law partner, Mike Giglio, who was not licensed in Tennessee. I has that pointed out to me, very strongly. However, House and Giglio evidently were law partners at the time and it was Giglio's brother who was married to Tonya, so I am sure they talked at length about her and the divorce. Apparently it was uncontested and their were no children involved, but be that as it may, in my book, that should have kept House from preciding over this trial. Now, we find out one of the father's of one of the alledged victims, doesn't believe anything happened, but the DA just wants to hide that info. There is so much to this case that is just a house of cards waiting to collapse. Sadly, many lives are being forever damaged, because of the DA's office wanting to make a big name for themselves and to look like they are taking care of the people of Catoosa County.

About Me

I teach economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. We are located on the Allegheny Plateau, and we have cool summers and tough winters.
I am the single father of five children, four of them adopted from overseas and I have two grandchildren. My family and I are members of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA).